Take Me

Anabel shifted her weight uncomfortably. A strong ache had been working its way through her fleshy backside while it was crushed between her bones and the wrought iron park bench where she waited. She lifted her left leg and crossed it over her right knee, glancing hopefully up at the bench across the way where a man sat, scanning casually around the park. He didn't seem to notice her, despite her criminally short skirt, low cut crop top, and tight, smooth ponytail. She was sure he'd notice her, but was she sure she wanted him to notice her? Her blood ran cold and she smiled nervously.

It had taken her a few months to work out where she might be able to catch up with him. She'd first seen his photo in news articles online. It wasn't the most flattering photo, but she had downloaded it, printed it out, and gone on the hunt for more. With his full name, Mason Thurgood, she was able to track down his Facebook and other social media accounts. But soon photos weren't enough, she knew she'd have to see him in person.

Anabel spent weeks getting into his head, studying the patterns in his movements. Every news article about him, every detail, soaked into her mind. She analyzed everything, driven by her lust for his dark, brooding countenance. Though she lived in Texas, it was clear that he was operating mostly out of California, so she packed some bags, emptied her savings account, and went on a road trip.

Her heart was pounding. He was actually here, in the same park as her. She knew there were a lot of people who wanted to know where he was, and she had actually found him! First she'd found his car, then she'd actually found him!

She uncrossed her legs again, spreading her knees apart and hoping he'd notice how easy and available she was. He didn't even glance her way. She followed his line of sight and saw that he was watching a jogger, her long blond ponytail bouncing rhythmically across lean, exposed shoulder blades. She looked to be in her early twenties, perhaps a local college student. Anabel smiled, she forgot how much he seemed to like blondes.

Mason looked down at his phone as the jogger passed by his bench. He shot a brief glance at Anabel, who also feigned scrolling on her phone, then he got up and began following the jogger.

Anabel's heart jumped and a crisp burst of excitement pierced her lungs. He was going into action! She might actually get to see him work! She took long, deep breaths, trying to calm herself. The cool evening air froze the glistening sheets of sweat on her forehead and rushed up her skirt to tame the steaming sauna between her thighs. She shivered as Mason disappeared into a nearby thicket of trees. She was sure he'd be attempting to cut off the jogger before she emerged back into the open park. If Anabel was going to move, she had to do it now.

She took a deep, sharp breath through her nostrils and got to her feet. Her muscles were sore and her head spun. She took a wide path around the thicket where Mason was hiding and entered the wood on the other side of the jogging trail. She tried to move quietly through the trees, stepping lightly on the dim forest floor. The sky was on fire with the brilliant reds and pinks of sunset. Anabel could almost imagine those same colors spilling out on the forest floor, oozing into the dirt beneath a bedding of decaying pine needles and grass.

She peered through the trees trying to get a glimpse of the trail or the jogger, but she couldn't see anything. A sharp, sickening crack rang out, followed immediately by the violent rustling of branches and shrubs. Muffled voices crawled along the ground as mist on a lake, spiking in intensity like the beating of war drums among struggling soldiers.

Anabel's mind was racing. She was missing it! Should she cross the trail and peek into the woods? She didn't want to scare him off but she wanted desperately to be a part of it, to help him and partake in his art. She longed to be by his side, lending her hands to his cause, her body to his pleasures.

The throbbing vocals slowed and the struggle subsided. With a runaway heartbeat and devastating tunnel vision, Anabel emerged from her side of the wooded section of the park, wandered across the trail, and stepped onto holy ground. Reverently she made her way between trees, searching carefully for the victorious hero and the spoils of his hunt.

She found him hunched viciously over the jogger, his dark eyes staring steadily at her as she approached. She crumpled to her knees, clasping her hands together in prayer and lowered her head.

"Mason," she whispered. "Take me! I'm yours!" She waited with her head down, but she lifted her eyes.

She expected him to run, or attack. Instead he just gazed at her, bewildered. His face was empty, his eyes as black as coal.

Anabel extended her wrists and shuffled forward on her knees. "Take me..." she gushed breathlessly. "I want to be with you."

Mason Thurgood looked around the small clearing, listening, his eyes gravitating back to Anabel with each sweep. Her whole chest thumped impatiently, her lungs gasping for air while her ears ached for the sound of his voice.

She glanced at the jogger, who wore a necklace of deep, black and purple bruises. Her empty eyes gazed heavenward, frozen in a state of horrific ecstasy. Much of her sports bra and shorts had been cut away and tossed aside, along with most of the organic forest floor around her, an angelic clearing of mud and flattened grass where she had given Mason her last breaths... and so much more. Anabel felt tears trembling on her eyes as she looked back to Mason, pleading for him to take her.

"Take me with you," she sighed longingly.

He rose slowly and produced a large knife. Her heart pounded violently as he strode around behind her and grasped her ponytail tightly in a fist. She gasped excitedly as he jerked her head back, her jaw gaping wide as she looked up at him lovingly, tears streaming from her eyes toward her ears. With one clean motion she felt a frigid, fiery line sweep across her outstretched neck. She tried to fill her lungs but she choked on hot, gurgling liquid. Her eyes widened and she doubled over, barely able to hear Mason's footsteps as he made his way back to the park.

She was filled with fury as the world darkened around her. The gash in her throat was searing with pain. She crawled over to her blonde sister in death and pulled the girl's face in close, gazing into her eyes. Anabel clenched her jaw and tried to growl, to roar hysterically. What had he seen in this nobody? Why hadn't Anabel been able to catch his eye? Instead of taking her in any meaningful way he had unceremoniously discarded her, casting her aside like the jogger's torn shorts. Anabel was so much more than he had seen, and now he'd be sorry. She would have her revenge.

She held on as long as she could, choking and trembling in her pool of red mud, staring blankly into the jogger's beautiful blue eyes. Her racing mind was slowing down. The dim forest was blackening. In the still evening air Anabel finally heard a dreadful blast, the explosive shockwave from the home made pipe bomb she'd wired into his car's ignition circuit. Of course, if he'd taken her with him she could have warned him. She wanted to warn him. He should have taken her. This was his fault.

A weak, satisfied smile spread across Anabel's lips as her lungs deflated one last time.